Burundi Economy
Economy - overviewBurundi is a landlocked, resource-poor country with an underdeveloped manufacturing sector. The economy is predominantly agricultural with roughly 90% of the population dependent on subsistence agriculture. Economic growth depends on coffee and tea exports, which account for 90% of foreign exchange earnings. The ability to pay for imports, therefore, rests primarily on weather conditions and international coffee and tea prices. The Tutsi minority, 14% of the population, dominates the government and the coffee trade at the expense of the Hutu majority, 85% of the population. Since October 1993 an ethnic-based war has resulted in more than 200,000 deaths, forced 800,000 refugees into Tanzania, and displaced 525,000 others internally. Doubts about the prospects for sustainable peace continue to impede development. Only one in two children go to school, and approximately one in ten adults has HIV/AIDS. Food, medicine, and electricity remain in short supply.
GDP
purchasing power parity - $3.78 billion (2003 est.)
GDP - real growth rate
-1.3% (2003 est.)
GDP - per capita
purchasing power parity - $600 (2003 est.)
GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 47.4%
industry: 19.3%
services: 33.3% (2003 est.)
Investment
9.8% of GDP (2003)
Population below poverty line
68% (2002 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: 1.8%
highest 10%: 32.9% (1998)
Distribution of family income - Gini index
42.5 (1998)
Inflation rate
10.7% (2003 est.)
Labor force
2.99 million (2002)
Labor force - by occupation
agriculture 93.6%, industry 2.3%, services 4.1% (2002 est.)
Unemployment rate
NA
Budget
revenues: $179.4 million
expenditures: $209 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (2003)
Agriculture - products
coffee, cotton, tea, corn, sorghum, sweet potatoes, bananas, manioc (tapioca); beef, milk, hides
Industries
light consumer goods such as blankets, shoes, soap; assembly of imported components; public works construction; food processing
Industrial production growth rate
18% (2001)
Electricity - production
155.4 million kWh (2001)
Electricity - consumption
177.5 million kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports
0 kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports
33 million kWh; note - supplied by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2001)
Oil - production
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption
2,750 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports
NA (2001)
Oil - imports
NA (2001)
Current account balance
$-35 million (2003)
Exports
$40 million f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Exports - commodities
coffee, tea, sugar, cotton, hides
Exports - partners
Switzerland 31.6%, UK 15.8%, Netherlands 5.3%, Rwanda 5.3% (2003)
Imports
$128 million f.o.b. (2003 est.)
Imports - commodities
capital goods, petroleum products, foodstuffs
Imports - partners
Kenya 14.6%, Tanzania 11.5%, Uganda 5.7%, France 5.1%, Zambia 5.1%, China 4.5%, India 4.5%, Japan 4.5% (2003)
Reserves of foreign exchange & gold
$67.4 million (2003)
Debt - external
$1.133 billion (2002)
Currency
Burundi franc (BIF)
Currency code
BIF
Exchange rates
Burundi francs per US dollar - 1,082.62 (2003), 930.75 (2002), 830.35 (2001), 720.67 (2000), 563.56 (1999)
